


Mr. Sandman

by nanopax



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: 'cause he's a good boah, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Arthur Morgan Does Not Have Tuberculosis, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, High Honor Arthur Morgan, Modern!Reader - Freeform, Mutual Pining, Or Is It?, Reader-Insert, Romance, Slow Burn, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Tuberculosis? who is she?, Unrequited Love, maybe? maybe not., no beta we die like men, no beta'd, oblivious characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26555791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanopax/pseuds/nanopax
Summary: "Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream. Make her the cutest that I've ever seen giver her two lips like roses and clover. And tell he that her lonely nights are over."when a woman get reincarnated into the world of Red Dead Redemption II, she had one intention. Made sure everyone lived. But little did she knew, by doing it she changed the course of the story as romance bud among it.
Relationships: Arthur Morgan/Charles Smith/Reader, Arthur Morgan/Reader, Charles Smith (Red Dead Redemption)/Reader, Javier Escuella/Arthur Morgan/Charles Smith/Reader, Javier Escuella/Charles Smith/Reader, Javier Escuella/Reader, John Marston & Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	1. Welcome to my cage, little lover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> she died that night, stabbed by some stranger. But then she opened her eyes and find herself in the game she played once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> greeting, fellow people. welcome to this section of hell called fanfic. may god bless you.

Cold.

Your body felt cold. As if someone throw you into a frozen river and left you to drown. The pinpricks feeling crawled all over your body, giving you thousand phantom pain in every inch of your skin. You felt it pierced your skin over and over, never stopping only pausing for a while before continued its role. The cold had completely engulfed you in its hold.

Then, you felt it. A throb on your chest, that turned into a thud, as if someone thumped a fist into your heart. Suddenly, the thump turned into a stab, as if someone stab a knife into your heart. The pain was quickly scattered across your body, sending a terrible electricity to your entire body.

Pain.

That’s all you can feel. As you now feeling a full blown pain all over your body as if something was stabbing you with knife before tearing your flesh off with it. It was excruciating and agonizing. You tried to escaped the pain or at least ease off the pain. But with this intense pain, you might as well give up. Letting the cold and the pain devoured you completely as you now sink into the abyss.

_Am I going to die?_

You thought to yourself as you keep sinking down, going deeper and deeper into the abyss. The pain was less but the cold was intensified. You accepted that. You welcome death in open arm, getting too tired from this pain. But then your mind ran to your family. Your mother. Your father. Your younger brother.

_Mom, Dad, Lance, I’m sorry._

How devastated they will be when they found out you are dead. Getting stab in the heart by a stranger on your way home. What a fool you were. If only, there was a second chance for you. or at least to change this fate. If only.

_“If only indeed, my child.”_

A pair of hands caressed the side of your face, cradling as if your mother would do. The warmth that emanated from it reminded you like your father. Slowly, you felt yourself stop going deeper but the hands prevented you to sink. Unconsciously, you nuzzled closer to the hands. You heard soft laughter echoed throughout the abyss. It reminded you of the timbre of your father. 

_“Fight, my child. Your body had failed you but not your soul. Endure and survive.”_

You felt a jolt. It ran from your head to your toes. It filled you with fleeting warmth before the cold took it place again. But the jolt turned into pulse. A steady one. Slowly, warmness filled your once frozen cold body as the hands kept caressing your head.

_I want to fight. I want to survive. I want to live._

The pain on your chest slowly dissipated, the aching changed into prickle of phantom pain. suddenly, you felt something coursing through your veins as it gave you the faintest control of your body. Slowly but surely, you regained your senses again.

_“And live you shall. Change the course of fate and create the path of redemption for them.”_

The voice grew distant as it slowly leaving you alone. The hands that had been caressing you, gave it a last gentle and soft caress before leaving you like the voice do. You felt yourself getting pulled upward as if something preventing you from sinking any further. Finally after a long time of darkness, you could see a hint of light.

Now the light engulfed you completely. It gave you the warmth and the jolt to live. From the distance, you heard a voice. A voice shouting for you as it grew louder and more frantic as it get closer to you. The shout now echoed around you, telling you to wake up. to get back to them. To him.

And then, you succumbed to the reality. As you opened your eyes, the color of cornflower blue greeted you as you took your first breath.

* * *

When you opened your eyes, you were greeted by cream colored canvas. You blinked a couple of times, focusing your blurry vision. It was daylight, the filtered sun shone gently on your face. You raised your hand toward your face, using it to covered your eyes. Taking a deep breath, you inhaled the afternoon air.

You are alive. But there was one question on your brain.

_Where are you?_

You turned your head around, on your right it was canvas but on your left it was a view. A view to the outside world. Slowly, you pulled yourself upward into a sitting position. A sudden wave of dizziness hit you, giving you a throb of pain. You massaged the bridge of your nose, easing the tension on your head. Gently, you risen up from the cot you were resting on.

Looking around, you noticed there was a crate turned nightstand, where there’s a glass of water and a book. You picked it up and read the title. _Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland._ You opened the book, in chapter four, there was a feather used as the bookmark.

You closed the book and placed it back on the nightstand. Looking down, you noticed few things. One, you were wearing nightgown—white long sleeved and knee length with blue ribbon on the collar—and two, you were barefooted.

Taking a shaky step, you walked out of the tent. Glancing around, you noticed there was mirror hanging by pole used as a cover for a lean to. You decided to take a looked at mirror. Upon looking you noticed one thing. You were a teen again. Unconsciously, you touched your face with one hand while the other touched the mirror but before it could, you heard a crash.

You twisted your head to the side quickly and looked at the source. Just a few feet away from you, a man dressed prim standing there all pale and teary as you noticed around his foot there were plate and brown mush.

“[Name]?” The man whispered softly.

You blinked owlishly at him, tilting your head in confusion. The man quickly jogged toward you and knelt right in front of you as he hugged you tightly. You were left dumbfounded as you listened the man sobbing on your shoulder. You awkwardly patted his back, hoping to ease him off.

Looking from the man’s shoulder, you saw more people appeared and all of them share the same expression as the man who hugged you. Quickly and clumsily, all of them—one kid, two adult men and a woman—ran toward you as they surrounded you and the man.

“[Name]! you are awake!”

“oh my sweet child!”

“are you alright?”

You were perplexed by everyone’s spontaneous questions. You could felt a wave of vertigo coming over you as you slowly swaying back and forth. The man—who held you—let you go but grabbed your shoulders, “[Name], do you remember anything?”

You glanced at everyone before focusing at the man in front of you, shaking your head as you pushed away him gently. “um, who are you?”

The answer you get was silence, a long stretch of heavy and awkward silence. It felt suffocating. You glanced at everyone, but all they gave you were worried and troubled expression on you. You looked back at the man, hoping him to gave you answer.

But the look he gave you was heartbreaking as he whispered, “you don’t remember us?”

Suddenly you felt a pulse a pain in your head as flash of image filled your eyes and then you heard it. His name. you rubbed your head to ease off the pain and then looked at him again, “Dutch?” You called out, testing your tongue on the unfamiliar name.

Dutch nodded happily as his eyes glisten in tears, “yes, that’s me. You remembered us right?” He asking you again, but it was like he was convincing himself than you.

You nodded hesitantly, “yes.”

The other man, Hosea—if your memory served right—walked toward you and Dutch as he too rested a hand on your shoulder, above Dutch’s resting one. “Dutch, I think it’s best for Ms. Grimshaw changed her into more comfortable clothing then we can continued our talk.” He suggested, but his tone was more ordering.

Susan pried you away from him as she lead you back to your tent. You glanced back slightly, watching Dutch walked away with Hosea as the other—the boy around your age and the young man—followed them.

Upon arriving your tent, Susan swiftly opened your trunk and pulled out a white shirt and blue skirt. She ushered you to get changed as she helped you get out of the nightgown. After undressing, she helped you getting on the shirt and skirt.

Throughout the dressing, Susan remained quiet only humming an unknown song while she helped. After dressing you up and giving you a boot, you were pushed to sit down on the cot while she sat behind you.

“braid or ponytail?”

You turned your head a little, letting out a hum of confusion. Susan only raised her eyebrow on you as she asked again, “braid or ponytail?”

“braid, please.” You answered. Then you heard a chuckle from behind, glancing you looked at her smiling at you. She noticed your glancing and smile brighter at you, “I’m glad you are alright, [Name]. You made everyone worried sick.”

You remained quiet, looking down on your hand. You could felt her fingers combing down your hairs as she tugged it gently. “what happened to me?” You asked her. She fell quiet for a while before sighing heavily. “you fell off a cliff into the water, luckily Arthur was down below to saved you from drowning.”

You grasped her words in heavy realization. You remembered drowning and talking to the unknown voice but, weirdly you didn’t remembered why or how you ended up in the water. It was distorted. Like it was cut off from your memory, you couldn’t remember the accident only before and after.

Before you know it, Susan was done braiding your hairs. She patted your shoulder, telling you to followed her. In which you did. Walking out of the tent, you scanned the area carefully. There were few tents and one wagon in farthest of the camp area.

But what truly captured your attention was the table in the middle of camp, just beside the bonfire. In the table, sat waiting were Dutch and Hosea. You walked at a slow pace, thinking about what you had to ask and answer.

Arriving at the table, you cleared your throat. Both of the men quickly noticed your presence as Hosea gently pulled you to sat down between them. Right in front of you, a bowl of soup and a glass of water presented nicely for you. “eat and then we can talk.” He urged you. Grabbing a spoonful of warm soup, you gladly devoured it.

After finishing the soup and drank the water, you sighed and looked at Hosea then at Dutch. “Ms. Grimshaw told me that I fell from a cliff, how did it happened and why?” You heard Hosea sighed as he rested a hand on your back. Dutch only looked at you in worry and sorrow.

“you, Dutch and Arthur went on to the town to buy some supplies but then the O’Driscolls came and attacked you. Dutch and you were cornered to a cliff—”

“and they shot you. Instead of hitting you, it send you fall down to the river. Luckily, Arthur was down there to save you.” Dutch finished Hosea’s explanation.

“Oh. Is that why my memories get all fuzzy and weird?” You asked them. Hosea raised an eyebrow in curiosity while Dutch raised both of his eyebrows in confusion.

“The doctor said you might have some head injuries, seeing you had been sleeping for two whole day. He also said seeing you are a teenage, fourteen, it might cause some memory distortion.” Hosea answered bluntly.

You blinked twice at this revelation. “oh.”

As if sensing your dumfounded reaction, Dutch quickly calm you down. “it’s okay, it’s alright. The doctor said no memory loss. We will pay him a visit in a few days for your check-up and we shall see.”

You gave an absentminded nod, “okay. I guess everything is alright then.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Dutch assured you while Hosea gave a nod of agreement. You smiled brightly at them. Seeing you smile at them, made the two men hugged you tight. The familiar scents hit strong, giving off wave of nostalgic and comfort. You felt suffocated but relaxed. You kinda liked it.

Maybe waking up in this world isn’t confusing and terrible at it seem. Maybe you could find a way to survive this world. You just need to gathered information and figured things out.

* * *

Later on the evening, you were seated on your cot in your tent. After eating another bowl, Hosea sent you off to rest again and will come again to get dinner. You filled your past time, searching around your tent and figuring out details about this [Name]. This [Name] share the same name, same hair, eyes and everything but there were a huge gap of difference between the two of you.

You were a collage student that died by getting stab in the heart by a stranger. She was a teenage outlaw that died from drowning. You were reborn into this body. She lost this body. You previously played this world as a game. She lived in this world.

What a fate.

On your searching, you found a small journal. An old unused journal that was the size of your palm. Grabbing a pen, you gathered the information you collected.

_Your name is [Name] Rook. A fourteen years old outlaw. Hosea found and adopted you. Your mission, endure and survive. Save everyone and change the fate._

After jotting down, you need to remembered how the game goes. Clearly, you were nowhere near the beginning of the game. Seeing how young everyone were. You need to figured out the chronological timeline and prepared yourself.

_List all members that join the gang. The Blackwater massacre. The train robbery. Micah arrested. Thomas Downes. Sean death. Kieran death. Hosea and Lenny death. Guarma. Pinkerton._

You sorted all of those in order. Now all you had to do was ask around. Cautiously and casual. No need to raise some suspicion and question on you, done it nonchalantly.

You closed the journal and decided to hide it somewhere safe. Scanning around your tent, you wondered for a while. If you put it under your pillow, someone bound to find it. The best option was hiding it in your trunk, underneath your pile of books and clothes.

Opening the trunk, you noticed how messy she was. You pulled out all of the items out of the trunk. You had few clothing articles, two boots, one high pile of books, knitting kit, weird but unique trinkets and writing supplies. You tidied up all of it, folding the clothes and re-arranging the books alphabetically.

The trinkets stored here were sentimental and treasured. Few jewelry—necklace, ring, bracelet and a hair stick—some feathers, weirdly shaped stones, and last but not least, a dagger.

The dagger was huge, for someone your size but for adult, it was normal size. The dagger was covered in leather sheath, you pulled it out. The dagger was clean, probably unused from how pristine it look. You lifted the dagger in front of you, twirling it carefully. You noticed there was an engraving on the blade.

_Age quod agis._

Huh, I wonder what it meant. You thought to yourself. Hearing someone walking toward your tent, quickly you placed back everything and your secret journal on the bottom of it. Just as you closed the trunk, a shadow covered the flap of your tent.

“[Name], are you there?” It was Arthur. You heard him shifting his feet around. “yes. Is there something wrong?” You asked him.

“Hosea send me, it’s dinnertime.”

“I see.”

You watched him opened the flap of your tent, his head entered first as he glanced around. You looked at him, giving him a closed eyes smile. Arthur pulled the tent flap all out, giving you the view of the descending sun. The orange horizon bled out into the darken skies. It was mesmerizing.

“you don’t remembered us, do you?”

Arthur question made you to turned your head fast, causing your braided hair whipped around. You looked at his face, his expression was sad. His eyes stared directly at you, concerned and dejected. You sighed before giving him an assured smile, hoping to convinced him.

“I remembered everything but they were foggy.” You answered him, almost truthfully. Upon waking up and meeting the others, you were shown a flash of all memories of this [Name] and were sparked if you needed. This [name] went through a lot. The pain and blood but then she met Hosea and Dutch, she was happy and safe.

“ah, I see, anyway, come and eat.” Arthur gave his hand at you, in which you rested yours on him as he gently lead you to the table where you previously ate.

“ah, Arthur, [Name], so glad that you two decided to join us.” Dutch greeted jovially. Hosea and Susan waved you while John was busy stuffing his food into his mouth. You took a seat next to John while Arthur took a seat next to you. Tonight dinner was grilled fish and vegetable soup, the same one you ate earlier.

“here you go, [Name].” Arthur placed your bowl in front of you in which you nodded in gratitude. Everyone already started eating and drinking with conversation being thrown in by the older adults. You half mindedly listened to Dutch’s laughter at Hosea’s remarks while Susan scolded Arthur and John as you played with your spoon.

“so, what do you think, [Name]?”

Dutch question snapped you out of your trance, causing you to jerked your spoon away—which landed on John’s bowl and made him hissed in shock. You looked at him in confusion as you felt a cold sweat forming on your back.

“I ask you : which one better, robbery or fraud?” He repeated his previous question at you. you realized that everyone now staring at you. Taking a deep breathe, you gave him a closed eye smile as you answered, “blackmail.”

Everyone fell silent for a couple of second before roaring of laughter. You let out forced chuckles, praying anyone won’t notice your discomfort. A spark of memory appeared on your mind, showing all of the blackmail and threatening you had done. It was scary and not to mention you started this at such young age.

You watched everyone calmed down, their laughing tone down and were replaced with wheezes. Dutch wiped a tear from his eye, looking at you proudly. “you never change, [Name].” you sheepishly nodded at the compliment, shoving down your soup.

Hosea shook his head, “easy now, [Name], you are not John. Slow down and relax.”

Which prompted John to retorted in anger as spit and bits of fish flew out of his mouth as he pointed at Hosea. Susan quickly scolded him by pulling him down. Dutch let out another wheeze of laughter while Arthur taunted him.

Tonight dinner was the same like the old [Name] dinner, loud and comforting.


	2. Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rook adapted to the harsh wild west lifestyle as she tried to uncover her accident and how to save everyone.

“are you done yet?”

“not yet. I need to find more.”

It’s been three day since you woke up from your so-called coma. Susan told you to take it easy on the chores around the camp. You grew bored and restless from bedrest, eventually you went to Hosea and admitted about your restlessness. He listened to your words, understanding your meaning. He gave you a basket and called John to come over, he then told him to helped you to find some berries.

And here you were, kneeling down and picking some berries.

Luckily the camp was moved near the forest but not too far from the civilization. The spot for berries were also nearby, just a walk by. But walking to the bushes with John was exhausting. It wasn’t like he talked a lot but he was too stiff and quiet, making the air awkward for you.

In the old [Name]’s memories, she and John were close and protective of each other. Always together, acting like a twin would. Twin from different parents. But [Name] would took the role as the older sibling, caring and mature even though John was the older by one year.

They were two peas in a pod. But after the accident, he acted like he was walking on a thin ice. Just watching you from afar or would told you to stay insight of everyone. Not to mention his watchful and suspicious looks he gave it to you. It began to felt unnerving. You need to threw him off.

“hey, John. Can I ask you something?” You called him, stopping your berry picking to looked at him. John lazily walked toward you until he stopped right next to you, “what is it?”

“why you avoid me?”

John was left stunned at your question, his face was blank and shocked. You smirked inwardly at this. Tilting your head, you called his name. John snapped out of his mind, quickly bristled in distress. You watched his face contort in various emotion as he let weird noises before stuttering his answer, “no-no I am not!”

“but you’ve been avoiding me ever since I wake up.” you told him.

John stomped his foot and shout, “no, I’m not.” You looked at him with feigned hurt before turning away to look at the opposite direction. Even though you couldn’t see his expression but you knew from the sound of his weird noises.

“[Name], hey, [Name], oi!” He called you.

You remained silent as you turned your head back to him, “what, John?”

John kneeled in front of you, grasping your shoulders to held you in place. You tilted your head in confusion, this time it was you who were left stunned as you waited for him. John sighed before he stared you dead in the eye.

“are you truly fine?”

His question made you inwardly flinched but John seem to caught up to it. You sighed, resting your hand on his forearm. “I don’t know.” You answered him, voice low and soft. “don’t know, what do you mean ‘don’t know’?” He echoed, confusion written in his face.

You nodded, “I don’t know. I guess I’m confused.”

“is it about your anemia?”

“amnesia, John. Not anemia.” You gave him a deadpanned look, John muttered ‘I know that’. You shook your head in disbelief and continued your answer, “anyway, I’m confused with what happened to me.”

John fell quiet, concentrated on your words as he grabbed your wrist. “you fell off a cliff and Arthur saved you, why that make you confuse?” His tone was puzzled and worried.

“I’m confused of what truly happened on that cliff.” You sighed.

“why though?” John inquired.

“I-I don’t know. I tried asking Arthur but he shrugged me off, Ms. Grimshaw too. Hosea told me to not stress over it and Dutch, I’m afraid to ask him.” You finished your explaining, curling your body as you hugged your knees and rested your chin on it.

You did ask around, even prodding a bit. But the three safest people you interrogated only shrugged you off or began to suspicious with your behavior. Hosea almost caught you off guard with your prodding on him. But luckily, you have natural talent of talking your way out of it.

Thank you, Hosea. Your own protégée managed to con you. What an irony.

“have you tried it yet?”

“huh?”

John shook his head in disbelief, “have you tried talking to him?” He raised both of his eyebrows, wiggling it in obvious manner. “no. Not yet.” You stared at him like he grown two head.

You did tried to hint the accident on Dutch, but it only resulted on him quickly dismissed it or bluntly to told you to stop stressing over it. Just this morning, you hinted on him about doing a light chores but he blatantly scolded you and forbid you to do any chores. You listened to him but as soon he left the camp, you approached Hosea.

And the rest was history.

“oh,” He paused before continuing, “ Anyway we should head back. Hosea is probably worried now.” He grabbed the basket and your hand, pulling you up. You wiped off some invisible dust and tidied up your skirt. John already a few steps away from, whistling random tunes.

Both of you took a slow stroll over the forest, the sun was midday and shone bright, glaring through the slits of trees. As you walked, you began to humming a few song. From humming turned into mumbled singing.

_“..Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars..._

_Let me see what spring is like, On a, Jupiter and Mars…”_

“what are you singing?” John asked, turning his head to you a little.

“just a random song I made.” You lied easily.

It wasn’t random song, it was one of your father’s favorite song, he always played it on the morning of your birthday. He always said it was your birth song, saying on the day you were born, the song played on his car radio. And since that, it was a tradition. The song itself became one of the reason you became a part-time singer. Well, in the previous life.

“you should sing more. It’s sound good.”

You only hummed at his compliment. He stopped his trek to turned at you, looking at you directly. “what?” You asked him, head tilted to side.

“I mean it. It sound nice, your singing.” He repeated again.

“okay, maybe I will sing for you.” You nodded, smiling softly at him. John turned his attention back, continued to whistling again as both of you now nearing the camp.

You could see Susan preparing today lunch while Hosea busy chopping off the firewood. From the look of it, Dutch and Arthur hadn’t returned yet. Good, you don’t need scolding from both of them. Upon arriving the front of the camp, Hosea—who just finished chopping—noticed both of you.

“ah, welcome back, you two. I assume the berry picking went well?” He greeted jovially.

You nodded happily while John showed him the basket, walking toward Susan to delivered the goods. Hosea wiped off the sweats on his forehead, exhaling his labored breath. You came closer to him as you pulled out a handkerchief, offering it in front of him.

“here.”

Hosea huffed in gratitude, grabbing the handkerchief and used it across his face. You watched him wiped his face clean of sweats and grimes. After he cleaned himself, he stretched his body as he cracking his arms and spine in relief. You winced at the sound, fearing for him and potential arthritis.

“oh, don’t give me that look, baby bird. I don’t need any more lecture about my health.” He chided, waving you off as he pushed you to walk with him. Hosea guided you to a tree neared the chopping area, taking a seat under it. The tree created enough shade to covered both of you from the glaring sun, prefect for resting.

“so, how’s the trip?” He started, relaxing his body on the tree.

“it was usual. John and I talked about cold shoulder and me should singing more.” You replied casually as you also leaning on the tree and splayed your legs freely.

“singing, huh? Maybe John is right. You should sing more.” He nodded in agreement.

You arched an eyebrow at him, “rook is not a singing bird, you know.” Smirking as you looked at him mischievously. Hosea snorted as he too smirking at you, “yes, they are not. In fact, they are known to steal shiny things.”

Both of you stared at each other for a while before bursting out laughter. The laugh went on for a few minute before it slowed down until it stopped. You and Hosea let out a simultaneous sigh, feeling completely spent. “but in all seriousness, the dishes couldn’t provide vocal compliments like all of us do.” He said, voice calm and relaxed.

“at least they are not nosy about it.” You muttered coldly, glancing sideway.

“my dear baby bird, no need to be cold. I merely encouraging your talent.” He soothed you, rubbing the top of your head, unfurling the already escaped locks from your ribbon. The wind blew at the same time your wild hairs escaped their binding, flying around with the breeze.

You looked at the distance, noticing the two familiar silhouettes approaching the camp. From the posture and horse, you knew who it was. They’re back. Hosea seemed to noticed your staring at the two figures as he stood up from his resting and slowly walked toward them.

“ah, welcome back, you two.” He greeted jovially, opening his arms wide. Dutch laughed back happily, climbing down the wagon. Arthur, who still sitting on the bench, nodded in greeting as he reined the wagon inside. You left the curious couple to chat with each other, optioning to helped the others with the supplies. Circling around the wagon, you gave the horses few pats before appearing at end of the wagon.

John was already there, talking with Arthur as he held a crate full of bottles. You waved at him as you grabbed a sack of potatoes. You turned around, walking carefully not to dropped any of the potatoes. But before you could took any steps further from the wagon, a hand appeared from behind and grabbed your forearm, twisting you backward.

“and just what do you think you’re doing?”

You freeze upon hearing his voice, feeling the familiar cold washed over your back. “helping?” you uttered sheepishly.

“uh huh, I thought Dutch told you to take it easy and not to do heavy duty, hmm?” He inquired.

You answered him with silence, blinking owlishly at him. “really? I don’t remembered him said that to me though.” You feigned innocence. Arthur frowned in irritation, twitching slightly at your answer. He snatched the sack out of your hold causing you to shout.

“and what are you doing, Arthur?” You arched an eyebrow, crossing your arms. You tried to reach for the sack but Arthur quickly lifted it upward and dodged your hands. He sidestepped your approaching body and walked away from you. “what Dutch told you to do.” He answered,

“which is?” You asked him, feeling agitated.

“that you should be resting not doing chores, my dear Rook.” You jumped a little when you heard Dutch from beside you. He was smiling at you, but instead of warmth and love you received it was cold and fake. _Oh no. He is angry._ You thought in terror. Dutch gripped your shoulder firm, forcing you in place.

“b-but I can help around the camp, Dutch, and I need light exercise too, you know.” You stuttered, silently cursed your wavering words.

Dutch remained unfazed as he opted to ignore your reason. “my dearest Rook, you are still recovering. No need to stressed out your body. Now go and take a rest.” He stared at you stern and cold. You gulped nervously, facing him directly and grabbed his gripping hand with yours.

“but Dutch—”

“no buts. Go.”

You sighed in exasperation, silently pleading to him but you only received with silent treatment from him so you complied and left. Hosea appeared from behind, curling his arm around your shoulders, giving you a silent support for you and probably to steered you away from creating any more conflict.

You glanced back. Arthur and Dutch were engrossed in deep conversation but from their occasional glances to you, you knew they were discussing about you. You sighed again, and it caught Hosea’s attention.

“oh please, [Name], leave the sigh of disappointment to me. Those crow’s feet shouldn’t be on you in such early age.” He tutted.

You chuckled breathlessly, looking at him. “you know rooks are relatives to crows right?” Eyes shone in glee. This time it was Hosea who sighed and shook his head in disbelief. “yes, I know, dearie. This is the second time you said that. Anymore, I have to deliver you to the circus.”

“you wouldn’t dare.” You snorted.

“oh trust me, [Name]. I would.” He smirked. You shook your head, “is there any chance I could persuade you not to send me there?”

Hosea hummed in concentration as he rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. You fixated on him, raising an eyebrow. “maybe I would be dissuaded if the rook sing for me tonight.” He suggested. Hosea always love you singing, and from the previous memories of [Name], Hosea was the one who urged her to sing more for everyone.

And just like you, this [Name] had confident issue. Nice.

“so, do we have a deal?”

You blinked in surprise. “maybe, but if you brush my hair.” You proposed, eyes glinting in amusement. “it’s a deal.” Hosea chuckled as he patted the top of your head.

“well then, I should prepared my best hairbrush.”

“make sure it’s not the horse brush, don’t want any weird hair now, do we?”

* * *

You hate him.

You should’ve noticed the signs, clues and your suspiciousness over this so called ‘deal’. You knew he was a conman and were taught directly from him. But foolishly, you agreed to him and here you were.

Sitting inside your tent, in your cot with your nightgown on while Dutch humming happily as he brushed your hair. How this happened, oh wouldn’t you like to processed everything again.

It all started before dinner. Tonight it was Dutch turn to cook for dinner, so he cooked everyone grilled fish and baked beans. You quickly grabbed your dinner and ate in silence. After the little argument between the two of you, you avoided Dutch and Arthur. And the two of them didn’t seem to realized your distancing of them.

After dinner, you had a light discussion with Susan about your knitting lessons since you were well enough to gather berries and such. You don’t mind with it, knitting and sewing were one of the things you do together to bond with. That and trash talking men.

“so, are you going to tell me what happen between you and Dutch this morning or do I have to forced it out of you?”

You almost choked on your tea, quickly coughing it out as you heaved. Susan pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and gave it to you. You nodded in gratitude, grabbing it and wiped the mess on your mouth. “th-this morning?” You coughed out.

“yes, this morning.”

“he got angry over me helping out with the supplies. Saying I should be resting.” You explained, “and Arthur probably told him about his little feud with me.” You slouched down on the table, arms crossed and acted as cushion for your resting head.

“oh my sweet child, he just meant well.” You felt her head gently caressed your head, lulling you to relax. “who meant well?” You mumbled tiredly. “Dutch. Arthur. They maybe harsh on you about your health but they meant well. Just followed their words, honey. They—no, all of us almost lost you and some of us are still in shock over it.” She answered honestly, tone soft and warm.

You turned your head to her while still resting on your arms. She smiled at you, continuing her head caressing. “I think it’s time for you to rest now, [Name].” she coaxed you, gently pushed you up. Slowly, you got up and left the table. You waved and bid her goodnight, in return she only smiled and shooed you off.

Upon arriving your tent, you closed off the flap and changed into your nightgown. You lit the oil lamp and sat down on your cot. Sighing, you pulled off your ribbon and grabbed the hairbrush. Just as you placed the brush on top of your head, you heard someone footsteps in front of your tent.

“[Name], you awake, dearie?”

It was Dutch. You were confused. No one was supposed to be visiting you, only Hosea. Since he promised to brush your hair but he was on guard duty. So he cancelled on you, but why Dutch here.

“yes, Dutch. Is there something wrong?” You answered him nervously.

You watched him opened the flap of your tent, smiling ever so confidently at you. He entered your tent and closed the flap off to gave you the privacy. “Hosea told me to help you with your hair since he was on guard duty.” He told you, pointing the hairbrush on your lap.

“eh?” You let out a flustered sound. Dutch chuckled at your jumpy movement as he grabbed the brush from you. “now, now. Turn around and let ol’ Dutch take care of you.” He twisted your body, sitting down behind you. You could felt him gently gathering your hair in one hand while the other held the brush handle.

He began to brush your hair while humming some tune with you hugging the pillow to your chest. The hair brushing was therapeutic for you, lulling you into the state of calm and relaxation. It was probably the same for Dutch too, hearing him hum and saw him smiled softly.

“hey, Dutch?” You called him. He only hummed in return, stopping his brushing.

You glanced back, looking at Dutch—who raised his eyebrow at you. “what is it, [Name]?” He asked. You sighed, “I want to apologize about this morning. I was wrong, I should’ve listen to you.”

You felt him stopped, hearing some shuffle before he sighed, “no, I am the one who need to apologize. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be hard on you. Hosea told me that you getting restless around the camp, seeing how anxious and tense you are.”

Anxious and tense. Is it that obvious that you were figuring things out, spying around everyone especially Arthur and John. You need to be more careful now and stay clear from Hosea. That man is bad news.

“I guess he was right,” He chuckled, “Hosea always right. He said that you need a change of scenery and suggested that we should head to town, sightseeing and such. So, what do you think?”

The town, huh. You thought to yourself. In there, you could snooping around and gathered some information and potential help for the future events. Beside, you need gain Dutch’s trust and lose Hosea’s constant checking on you. You need this.

“I think it’s a great idea. The Curious couple and their sweet daughter.” You smiled at him, giggling alittle.

Dutch placed his hands on your head, cradling gently as he placed a kiss on the crown of your hair. You felt slight heat rising in your cheeks, meekly touching the your head. He stood up from your cot and placed the brush on the nightstand.

“have a good rest now, [Name]. Tomorrow, we have a long overdue visit to the doctor and some sightseeing.” Dutch bid you goodnight, leaving the tent so you could rest. You laid on your back, still hugging the pillow. Tomorrow, you had a plan and all it need was some exploring.

And luckily, you were good in that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After [Name] left the wagon, John hang around until Dutch finished talking with Arthur. He poked him, gaining his attention.  
> Arthur: what?  
> John: take it easy on her, she got anemia. It’s bad for her memories.  
> Arthur: Amnesia. Not anemia, beside she had neither of it.  
> John: no, I think she got anemia.  
> Arthur: why I got this feeling that [Name] corrected you in this matter.  
> John: she did. But I just agreed to her. Since you know anemia.  
> Arthur: she lost memories not braincell, you stupid raccoon.

**Author's Note:**

> Old![Name] and Modern![Name] : *share the same everything except universe* cool! Another me from another timeline.  
> Also them : *twin spiderman meme* imposter!


End file.
